How his late dad inspired him to produce the world’s first naturally blue wine

Coviello Salinès’ father, Freddie Francisco Salinès, introduced him to cooking and winemaking at a young age although his dad wanted him to become a neurosurgeon.

“He wanted me to be like the early Ben Carson, so he would bring home large brain books for me to study,” Coviello told Soul Vision Magazine. “They were 1,000 pages long, breaking down analysis and all this different stuff with him,” according to Travel Noire.

Coviello’s parents migrated to Southern Bronx from the Caribbean. His father was a serviceman while his mother was a nurse. Cooking was his father’s big hobby and he would often pair different wines and beers and things that match with the food that he made, Coviello recalled.

After completing a university in Ohio where he studied biochemistry and minored in petroleum engineering, Coviello worked in the engineering field for a while before he was discouraged from the field by the wide-scale land destruction, racism, and nepotism.

It was at this point that he decided to venture into winemaking, after all, he had been introduced to it in his formative years when his father was alive. He traveled to Geneva to meet his friends. While in Geneva, he learned about the unethical practice of wine coloring. Coviello got to work on a scientific blueprint.

“I started writing out the formula of not only the derivative of grape skins but the anthocyanin compound that is in multiple fruits and vegetables,” he told TravelNoitre. “I also wrote the analysis of spectrum when it came down to the acidic to pH scalability of these different types of skins that allowed the molecular breakdown of that compound to sustain another color.” 

“So at that point, I started researching it, I figured out a formula that I was comfortable with, and I brought it to a few of the researchers and a few of the people that I was close with. And we started to find different areas that we can start sourcing these products,” he said.

He also traveled to Italy, known for producing some of the finest wines in the world, to learn more about preparing wine. He finally managed to come out with a product he so desired.

“It broke down every single avenue of the color spectrum of blue,” he said of the final result. “So when you look at the bottle, it has every single hue of blue attached to it, which I wanted to achieve but I didn’t think it was possible.”

After successful trials, he launched Amour Genève, the world’s first FDA, TTB, and EU-approved natural blue. His blue wine is now making waves in several countries, including the United States. “People are loving it. They’re loving the story. They’re loving the journey and the shape of the business. It’s just, it’s just all beautiful.”

Also, the wine is linked to his father as the wine’s trademark color of blue is his late dad’s favorite color.